More than a million Whirlpool tumble dryers with a fault known to cause fires are thought to still be in British homes.

The Mirror has led calls for the brand to take responsibility for the 5.3 million dangerous machines sold more than a decade ago and linked to hundreds of fires.

The manufacturer admitted that only around half of the dangerous machines - including Indesit and Hotpoint models - had so far been repaired.

Head of campaigns for consumer group Which?, Pete Moorey, told MPs Whirlpool's repair programme was “far from satisfactory, adding: “I think the fact that there could be two million of these machines estimated in people’s homes is incredibly worrying.”

Read More

Charlie Pugsley, the National Fire Chiefs Council’s head of investigations, told the Committee he had taken the unprecedented step of writing to Whirlpool six months before the fire broke out, expressing concern over advice that was being given to customers.

He said: “Subsequently, regrettably, we had all those people displaced in what we would certainly regard a near miss. Because had that fire been at night time it could have been a different picture.”

The firm were made aware that the fault existed in 2014, but they did not instigate a proactive repair programme until 2015.

Whirlpool has also been made aware of at least 20 fires since 2014 where a second fault with a door mechanism was identified as the probable cause. Whirlpool has not instigated a repair programme for that issue.

Whirlpool's head of communications, Ian Moverley

And Committee chair Rachel Reeves slammed Whirlpool for sending their Head of Communications, who was unable to answer several questions from MPs, to give evidence to the committee rather than a senior manager.

She said: “We don’t expect time and again for our questions not to be given answers.

“When a select committee asks someone to give evidence we expect someone to give evidence who can answer the questions.”

But Mr Moverley defended the firm’s approach to the repairs.

He said: “It was a very large scale campaign and we took huge steps and have worked extremely hard to ensure that this is resolved as soon as possible for our consumers. The number of steps we took was recruiting additional 700 engineers that we trained and put into the field, doubling the call centre.”

Read More

Alex Neill, Which? Managing Director of Home Products and Services said: "It is shocking that despite admitting that there are one million potentially dangerous tumble dryers in people's homes, Whirlpool is still failing to recall these machines voluntarily.

"Whirlpool must no longer ignore its responsibility for the safety of its customers and must conduct a full product recall. If it does not, the Government must intervene."

A spokesperson for Whirlpool said: “We continue to appeal to any remaining owners of the affected models to contact us immediately so we can modify their tumble dryers.

"After two years of extensive measures to raise awareness, the number of consumers coming forward has now fallen sharply. This suggests that few affected appliances remain in service.”